


No Path Untaken

by crazylittleelf



Category: Fringe, The Graveyard Book
Genre: Crossover, Gen, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-02
Updated: 2009-02-02
Packaged: 2017-10-02 22:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazylittleelf/pseuds/crazylittleelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter and Olivia meet a boy in a graveyard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Path Untaken

It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, visiting The States.  An adventure, Bod told himself.  He had expected the sense of displacement, the odd differences, the general weirdness.  The homesickness had taken him by surprise.  It was why he ended up sitting in the very clean, very sterile, very American government building being questioned rather impatiently.

It had seemed like such a good idea and he was beginning to be suspect of such things.  It would not be home, not even close, but it might help so he slipped through the fence and wandered among the graves.  And he was right.  It wasn't like home at all.  It was so _new_.  Even the oldest grave was a distinct thing not yet weathered to a lump of once-marble.  The new ones didn't even have stones, just sad little plaques set against the ground.  It was there among the sad new graves that everything went pear-shaped.

One of the graves started roiling upwards and his first thought was _ghouls_, but it wasn't.  His second thought was _run_ and when he did he ran right into a lady with a gun.  His third thought was _she's going to shoot me_ but after a frozen moment of terror she sprinted past him and someone else grabbed him and there were shots and it all got quite confusing.

The lady with the gun, who was now rather impatiently questioning him without the gun, was pretty or would be if she smiled.  The man with her scowled more than anyone he'd ever seen.  Bod was trying not to tell them anything, but that didn't seem to be working very well.

“Are you vacationing here?”  Her eyes were green like the vines of the Macabray flowers, bright and unexpected.  Her voice was gentle but there was something under it.  Something like steel.  She reminded him of Silas and he was suddenly terribly tired and homesick again and alone.  “Just tell us your name.”

“My family name is Owens.”

“Owens.”  She smiled ever so slightly.  “What's your first name, Mr. Owens?”

He remembered why he hadn't said anything before now, because now he had to choose.  The lie of Ned or Nick or Neil or the truth.  He didn't want to lie to her.

“Nobody,” he whispered and it was exactly like he feared.  Her eyes hardened and she pushed back from the table.  Bod and the pretty lady both sighed in disappointment.

“Someone from Child Services will be here soon.  I'm sure we'll have you back with your parents soon.”  She rose from the table and strode from the room.

Her companion didn't follow but she didn't seem to notice.  They watched each other for a measure.

“They're not going to find your parents, are they?”

Bod shook his head.  “I wouldn't expect so.”

The man looked thoughtful, then pulled Bod's wallet and passport from his pocket and pushed them across the table.

“That's where they went!”  Bod grabbed them back eagerly.  “I wondered why she didn't know my name.  Why did you have them?”

“Just a hunch.  Do you remember how to get out of the building?  Out the way we came in?”

“Yes.”

The man held up his hand.  “Five minutes, then out as fast as you can.  And out of Boston.  She's... tenacious.”

Bod grinned at him.  “Right.  Thanks.”

“Take care, kid.”  The man wasn't scowling now and Nobody Owens felt a little bad that he was going to get in trouble with the pretty lady over him.  But only a little.


End file.
